Where Dragons Dwell
by RedStalkingDeath
Summary: How exactly would a human appear through the eyes of a dragon? Tiny, fragile, irritating... On fire? The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition - Season 4, Round 4. Chaser 3 for Pride of Portree.


**The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition - Season 4, Round 4**

 **Team: Pride of Portree**

 **Position: Chaser 3**

 **Creature: Dragon**

 **Optional Prompts:**

 **1\. (word) soul**

 **13\. (dialogue) "I'll survive. I always do."**

 **15\. (word) obliterate**

 **Wordcount: 1053**

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 **Where Dragons Dwell**

The big, dark green dragon resting in her nest automatically went into defensive mode as she recognised the distinctive sounds of a human being approaching her territory. The others of her species may be bigger and more dangerous than human beings on the general scale of all creatures in nature, but at least they knew not to approach – or worse, have the audacity to actually _touch_ – another's eggs.

For the most part, the humans were just mildly irritating, but she had once witnessed a flock of them flying on their branches, throwing some kind of sparkling, strangely coloured flames at one of the others of her kind. It had been enough to incapacitate the other dragon for a short amount of time, allowing _them_ to get much closer than any dragon worth their scales would ever consent to in a state of consciousness. If it weren't for the fact that she'd had her own defenseless offspring to prioritise above all else back then too, she would have showed those humans exactly how unacceptable she found their behaviour.

She put her heart and soul into the protection of her little ones, which was not something anyone would be saying lightly. It was not for nothing that the old saying 'to put the soul of a dragon into it' had been a popular expression in more than a few human civilisations around the world throughout the ages. Apparently, if some people were to be believed, adding a dragon's soul to any potion would increase its potency by a tenfold. The process of actually capturing the soul of an individual of her species – or of any living creature, to be fair - belonged to the darkest of magic practices, and had been banned in all Wizarding Societies around the world for close to a century.

The mother-to-be relaxed her tense, defensive stance by a fraction as the human came into view. It was the one which looked like its head was covered in flames. That one, at least, knew not to fly too close on its tree branch. In all honesty, it was more of a tiny stick than a branch, which looked like it would snap in half quite easily beneath her foot.

At that she stretched her front feet forth – allowing the rays of the sunlight to reflect in the polished surface of the sharp claws – adjusting her wings slightly, spreading them a bit more to show off her impressive wingspan to its greatest advantage, and bared her teeth in greeting. She was letting the intruder know – in no uncertain terms – that no trespassing would be tolerated. She wouldn't trust even that one anywhere _near_ her precious offspring, but it had proved to be less likely than the other ones to attempt anything that would anger her. The human was well aware that she would only be giving one warning – with a well-aimed breath of fire – if it pushed her in any way.

That particular human being appeared to be slightly different from the others she had encountered in her long life, not only because it acted like less of a threat, but also because of the fact its head was on fire. As a dragon, fire was something that made her feel safe on an instinctive level. She was not comfortable with the type that erupted from some of the humans at times, though she was kind of curious about how exactly they _did_ shoot those flames. Their faces didn't have the appearance of being made of stuff strong enough to handle that type of heat, she thought – eyeing the human's snout warily as it flew around the area, waving a twig in her general direction – and their breath didn't show traces of any substantial degree of heat either.

Sometimes she wondered if the Fire Human would be immune to her fiery breath – which was quite an alarming notion – seeing as it was on fire already, but she trusted her razor-sharp claws, quick tail, jagged teeth and strong jaws to make up for it if the fire should fail her. Human beings were tiny, fragile creatures, after all.

Other times she wondered what it was doing there in the first place. Didn't it have its own eggs to take care of? Maybe it was a male of its species, assigned the task of acquiring food for its mate or flock. But that still would not explain why it was _there_ of all places in the world. There was no food to find in the area, whether it was seeking plants or meat. Most plants could not stand the climate in the specific areas dragons found ideal for nesting, and animals usually had enough sense to stay well clear of any space frequented by the fire-breathers. A nesting dragon was definitely one of the most dangerous creatures in the world, and any being who valued its life knew not to antagonise the mother-to-be as anyone or anything who dared approach her were likely to be obliterated in a burst of flames.

The Fire Human always talked to her – or that's what she assumed it was trying to do when it made high-pitched noises while moving its minuscule jaws up and down – even though it had to know she neither would nor could understand any of it.

The human's talking-sounds sounded more like one long, connected noise that day, rather than the many short ones it usually delivered, but it was no more intelligible nonetheless.

"I'll survive. I always do," it started its whining all over again after a short pause, which it used to take a deep breath. "Boggarts may scare me, doxies may bite me, veelas may tempt me, and dragons may burn me. But I will always survive!"

The dragon gave a snort of amusement – sparks flying from her nostrils along with the puff of air in her sudden exhale – as the strange human uttered a particularly high and absolutely ridiculous tone.

She followed the human with her bright yellow eyes as it flew around her, keeping a safe distance, one they could both be more or less comfortable with. The dragon would never take any chances, no matter how amusing she found the human.

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 **AN: I've been referring to a human as 'it' in this story. This was done deliberately, as the dragon sees all humans as creatures, not persons. Oh, and I stole the title from a song by Gojira.**


End file.
